{"id":23414,"date":"2010-11-29T13:42:37","date_gmt":"2010-11-29T17:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firstthings.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/?p=23414"},"modified":"2015-04-17T16:26:46","modified_gmt":"2015-04-17T16:26:46","slug":"buster-gratitude-hillbilly-thomism-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2010\/11\/29\/buster-gratitude-hillbilly-thomism-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Buster, Gratitude, Hillbilly Thomism UPDATED"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

When Buster was pretty small<\/strong>, perhaps three or four years old, a priest asked a rhetorical question during his homily\u2013I don\u2019t remember the question; it might have been \u201cwhy are we here, today\u201d or something like that\u2013but the boy was determined to answer it, and his hand shot up and remained there, like one long skinny flagpole wavering, while the priest tried to ignore him.<\/p>\n

After a while, Fr. Patient\u2013who had baptized Buster and knew him well\u2013sighed and said, \u201cokay, Buster, what\u2019s your answer?\u201d<\/p>\n

Sadly, by that time Buster had become more interested in his appendage than in anything else. He smiled at the priest and said, \u201cI have orangutan arms!\u201d<\/p>\n

At least the pope didn\u2019t have to endure that.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m writing against two deadlines right now,<\/strong> but wanted to direct you toward some pretty remarkable stuff you\u2019ll want to read.<\/p>\n

First up, don\u2019t miss<\/strong> Marcia Morrissey\u2019s latest column<\/a>. In this season of gratitude and the ponderings of Advent, she writes about the way our lives seem to arc in a perfect trajectory, if we really look at things and how they work out. There are a lot of valuable lessons<\/em> in her piece.<\/p>\n

Then, let me introduce you to a writer whose work I just love: he is charming, smart and insightful, and he doesn\u2019t see things the way the rest of us do: check out Joseph Susanka\u2019s Through a Lens, Darkly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are few writers who have written so clearly or so well about the art of cinematic interpretation as has that charmingly blunt hillbilly Thomist, Mary Flannery O\u2019Connor.<\/p>\n

It might seem counter-intuitive to search for insights on understanding film among the essays and lectures of a fiction writer \u2014 and a short-story writer, at that. But in her essay, \u201cThe Grotesque in Southern Fiction,\u201d O\u2019Connor reminds her fellow authors (and storytelling artists of any stripe) of an incredibly important insight regarding story and its motivations \u2014 an insight they would do well to keep in mind, no matter what their medium.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cthat charmingly blunt hillbilly Thomist\u2026\u201d<\/strong> I think O\u2019 Connor would have adored that. I certainly do.<\/p>\n

Heather King:<\/strong> Her blog is rapidly becoming a daily must-read for me! Today, Advent; Work and Life of Kenzaburo Oe<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Back in 1963, \u014ce\u2019s wife, Yukari, was pregnant. Doctors advised the couple that the baby would be severely developmentally and physically disabled, and urged them to abort. They chose otherwise, and their son Hikari was born. He was visually impaired, epileptic, and possibly autistic. He did not speak.<\/p>\n

For a writer, a more unpromising son that Hikari could scarcely have been imagined. This is no sentimental, faux-tender call to pretend we adore the handicapped. We would not adore them nearly so much if we had to live with and take care of them. \u014ce has written of Hikari\u2019s abysmal oral hygeine, his bad breath, his immovable bulk, the years of laboriously accompanying him to the special school via bus and train\u2013hours that could have been spent writing, producing\u2013and then the same trip again in the afternoon to fetch him back.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read this entire, fascinating, moving piece<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If your heart can take it:<\/strong> Now read \u201cWhere\u2019s Molly?\u201d<\/a>
\n
\nPut on the religious breaks for the political:<\/strong> Bookworm on the Wikileaks<\/a><\/p>\n

An Advent challenge, of sorts:<\/strong> I was Ignorant and You Taught Me<\/a><\/p>\n

The question they never ask Buddhists:<\/strong> Does Celibacy Still Have Value?<\/a><\/p>\n

A partial answer<\/a><\/p>\n

I like this piece by Ross Douthat. <\/strong> A lot.<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Hitchens\/Blair Debate:<\/strong> Austen Ivereigh asks why Tony Blair did not defend the church\u2019s record<\/a>. I certainly agree that Blair\u2019s Catholicism seems \u201cto permeate none of his thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mere Religiosity<\/a><\/p>\n

Gallileo:<\/strong> The Astronomer\u2019s Faith<\/a><\/p>\n

In depth<\/strong> Eric Hoffer<\/a><\/p>\n

A new Habit of Witness<\/a> entry. More on that, anon!<\/p>\n

OSV:<\/strong> Vatican Flubs Media Relations<\/a><\/p>\n

Back on Politics and Wikileaks:<\/strong> Spengler. Scathing<\/em><\/a>. Some might say \u201cway harsh.\u201d Made me wince.<\/p>\n

Also leaked:<\/strong> CIA did not expect a Pope Benedict XVI:<\/p>\n

I wonder if I want to stay away from politics altogether during Advent.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Buster was pretty small, perhaps three or four years old, a priest asked a rhetorical question during his homily\u2013I don\u2019t remember the question; it might have been \u201cwhy are we here, today\u201d or something like that\u2013but the boy was determined to answer it, and his hand shot up and remained there, like one long […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,41,43,44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advent-2010","category-buster","category-catholic-vocations","category-catholicism"],"yoast_head":"\nBuster, Gratitude, Hillbilly Thomism UPDATED<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When Buster was pretty small, perhaps three or four years old, a priest asked a rhetorical question during his homily--I don't remember the question; 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